U.S. Pat. No. 8,434,186 (2013) to Wildauer et al. is incorporated herein in its entirety by reference. The '186 patent discloses a hand held and hand operated drain cleaning tool with a cable or snake coiled in a drum. A crank is attached to the drum to allow a user to rotate the drum about a support assembly from which a handle depends. The cable extends forwardly of the drum and is extended relative thereto for insertion into a drain to be cleaned and rotates with the drum so as to clear a blockage encountered in the drain. A user withdraws a length of the cable from the drum until a snag in a drain is reached and then a thumbscrew at the forward end of the drum is tightened against the cable so as to preclude unintended displacement of the cable into the drum as the cable is advanced. The drum is then held with one hand and rotated by the other while the user forces the cable into the drain at the same time. When the withdrawn length of the cable has been inserted into the drain, the thumb screw is loosened the cable is held in place and the drum is withdrawn from the drum. The thumbscrew is again tightened and the operation is repeated to displace the newly extended length of the cable to the drain. When the drain cleaning operation is completed, the thumbscrew is loosened and the cable is manually pushed back in the drum by the user. A tubular port is disposed forwardly of the drum and may include a pistol grip type handle extending laterally of the axis of rotation for supporting the drum.
Hand held and hand operated drain cleaning tools are desirable in that they are relatively lightweight, structurally simple, economical to manufacture, and, for all of these reasons, ideal for use in connection with light duty drain cleaning operations such as those encountered in a residence.
A problem with the prior art is that the user must touch the cleaning cable for insertion and removal from the drain. This exposes the user to hazardous wastes. Another problem is the coiling and kinking of the exposed cable during the twisting action used for cleaning the drain. A kinked cable prevents the twisting of the cleaning tip.
What is needed in the art is an extension tool that pushes the cable into the drain without the user's hands touching the cable. What is also needed is a telescoping tube that prevents the kinking of the cable during the twisting of the cable.
The present invention meets these needs with a two handle tool that allows a user to attach a handle clamp onto the cable for inserting or withdrawing the cable into and out of a drain. A telescoping shaft completely encloses the cable from the drain opening to the auger drum, thus preventing any kinking.